Sentimentalities
by Kurissyma san Tybalt
Summary: After the game, Balthier offers Ashe back Rasler’s ring but she shakes her head, telling him to give it to Fran instead. BALFRAN


**Sentimentalities**

_**AN. I do know that Balthier sends Ashe's ring back to her at the end of the game but I've basically stuffed that in favour of my own ending. Hope y'all like! And remember: REVIEWS EQUAL LOVE!!**_

The silver wedding band was placed on the table between them and a soft sort of smirk settled over Balthier's features as the new queen picked it up and turned it over in her hand contemplatively.

"I trust you've found the greater treasure you were looking for, then?" she asked eventually and even Balthier, who spent so much of his time with the stoic and seemingly emotionless Fran, could not read the look on her face.

"Actually, no," he replied easily, if a little confused by her expression. "But having the Queen of Dalmasca in my debt will doubtlessly come in handy some day."

A small smile flickered across Ashe's face. "Very well," she agreed. "You'll find that I have humbled quite drastically and am no long above consorting with the likes of you."

Balthier bowed slightly. "Glad to hear it. Now, slip your precious ring back on and give me a proper smile so that I can get out of here- Fran's waiting on the Strahl."

Ashe's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she continued to stare at her ring doubtfully.

"Your Highness?" Balthier queried with a flourish. "Is something the matter?"

"…Just take it," Ashe decided after a time, thrusting the ring back towards him with a look of determined frustration about her. "Take it and give it to Fran, I think that's really the best end for this treasure."

Surprise flashed momentarily behind Balthier's eyes but he was quick to brush it aside. "Your Highness?" he asked of her slowly.

"Give it to Fran," Ashe repeated, more calmly this time, "when you ask her to marry you."

-

Balthier left the palace feeling rather out of his depth, though God forbid that it were visible on his face. How had she known? It really was really quite anomalous of her, and he had to wonder what other precious secrets she might have learned about him.

For many years now, Balthier had known that he was in love with his partner, what he did not know was that it was in any way noticeable to those around him, but there it was... Did that mean that Fran could see it too? If she had noticed, then she hadn't said anything about it…

A deep frown had settled over Balthier's face by the time he returned to the Strahl and Fran caught it immediately as he walked into her room to announce his return.

"Something troubles you," she remarked, setting aside the book she had been reading in favour of studying his face curiously. "Was your meeting with the queen unsatisfactory?"

"Not at all," Balthier replied, bowing low in order to hide his face as he replaced the frown with his usual cocky grin. "I merely missed you, Fran. After all, what is the leading man without his leading lady?"

"Oh, I'm yours now, am I?" Fran mused, almost teasingly. "_That's_an odd spin on things, to be sure!"

"But not an altogether unpleasant notion…" Balthier murmured, stroking his chin suggestively. While giving the appearance of having meant it as a joke, he gauged her reaction silently.

"What? My belonging to you?" Fran deliberated, leaning back to rest on her hands.

"Exactly." The lightweight silver ring in Balthier's pocket suddenly took on the presence of one thousand Dalmascas.

"I thought that being a sky pirate meant not belonging to anyone," said Fran, with a look of contemplative amusement about her.

"Odd, that…" Balthier murmured, raising an eyebrow at her. "Because I've always been yours."

A calculating look passed over Fran's face and she frowned, shaking her head firmly. "Don't you be flirting with me, Balthier Bunansa, I'm an old maid in Hume years," she warned him.

Balthier raised an eyebrow in mock-surprise and crossed the room to press a hand to her cheek and run his thumb over it gently. "Oh? But you look so young and beautiful from where I'm standing."

Fran stood up silently to match and conquer his height but he didn't back down, still smiling at her in that oddly predatory way.

"Don't think that proves your point, Love. Many women are taller than me," he pointed out and Fran's eyes narrowed slightly at that.

"Balthier," she growled softly.

"In any case… Queen Ashe asked me to give this to you." He held out Ashe's wedding ring and saw Fran's burgundy eyes glint at the sight of the treasure. He smirked. "In fact, she had a rather specific purpose in mind for it…" he paused again. "…May I?"

Fran looked vaguely surprised but held out her right hand for him, withdrawing it and replacing it with the other only at Balthier's stubborn insistence.

Balthier took her hand in his, brought it up to his lips and kissed it gently, his eyes never leaving hers, which were locked on his warily. Then, lowering her hand again, Balthier sought out her second finger from the left and slipped the ring on gently.

For a moment, then, he was silent and Fran tried to draw her hand away without much success.

"Balthier?" she sighed eventually.

The skypirate dragged his gaze up to his partner's eyes slowly. "I'd would be honoured, Fran, if you would become my wife," he said slowly, eyes ever-set on hers, which crinkled in worry slightly as she tried to process the situation.

A short silence ensued during which an inwardly anxious Balthier resisted the urge to drop her hand and run, and Fran tried to come to terms with her feelings.

"There is no marriage within the woods…" she replied eventually.

"Oh?" said Balthier, feigning surprise. "Then let me enlighten you, my dear. Marriage is a commitment that two people enter into when they are very much in love. It involves a big party with a feast and dancing and the best man drinking himself under the table. That'll be Vaan, of course, and dear little Penelo will be up all night fussing over him… That is, if you'll accept my proposal."

Fran found herself unable to reply. Love was what she felt for Jote and Myrn, and the Strahl, and… well, Balthier of course, but also for Penelo and Vaan and Basch and the Princess… Was it any different?

Yes, she decided eventually. It was.

"This… this big party with the drinking and the dancing… It would make us mates?" she asked eventually, glancing back down at the ring on her finger with a mixture of dubious concern and wistfulness on her face.

"If you would prefer to see it that way," Balthier agreed, a light flush brushing across his cheeks.

"And you are asking me this…"

"Because I am in love with you," he confirmed without hesitation.

Fran was silent for a very long time, then, as she considered this. Balthier waited patiently- he knew from experience that rushing her with an important decision such as this would only serve to make her irritable and far less likely to comply.

All the same, he was curious…

"What is it that you feel for me in return, Fran? If anything at all…"

More silence, then- "…I think I should like this big party very much, Balthier Bunansa," Fran decided. "And I… If you are sure, then I should like very much to be your mate also."

At this, Balthier wasted no time in pulling her into his arms and squeezing her tightly, planting randomly placed kissed over her face and neck in his excitement.

Fran laughed softly and took hold of Balthier's chin, tugging his lips down to hers lightly. "I will be yours…" she whispered giddily. "It seems that I have failed both as a Viera and as a Sky Pirate."

"So just be 'Fran'," Balthier replied, smiling at her entreatingly. "I always did love that the most about you."

"Foolish man…" Fran chuckled softly. "You shall make a good mate."


End file.
